


Carrying You

by glitteringconstellations



Series: Bad Things Happen Bingo [2]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Amputation, Bad Things Happen Bingo, Body Horror, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-14
Updated: 2018-06-14
Packaged: 2019-05-23 06:00:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 803
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14928525
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/glitteringconstellations/pseuds/glitteringconstellations
Summary: Every second that passed was another second closer to failure. Keith knew that, and he knew Krolia knew that. So every second she spent hauling his useless ass through this godforsaken jungle was another second wasted.





	Carrying You

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt from the [Bad Things Happen Bingo](badthingshappenbingo.tumblr.com) on tumblr. prompt: more expendable than you with Keith. Keith gets cradled this time. 
> 
> Title from Laputa: Castle in the Sky. It seemed fitting.

Every second that passed was another second closer to failure. Keith knew that, and he knew Krolia knew that. So every second she spent hauling his useless ass through this godforsaken jungle was another second wasted.

“Put me down,” Keith demanded.

Well, he tried to, anyway. His demand came out as more of a choked gasp, as every step Krolia took jostled his mangled right leg. He _swore_ he felt the same shockwave of agony in his left leg, too—or he would have, if the leg wasn’t lost somewhere in the mess of burning wreckage Krolia had dug him from.

Krolia didn’t even cast a glance over her shoulder; she merely hitched him higher on her back, compensating for the awkward distribution of weight. “No.”

“We don’t have _time_ for this!” Keith cried out. He tightened his grip around the sheathed Marmora blade, still clenched in his hand for dear life even as his arms were slung around Krolia’s shoulders. Around them, the acrid smell of burning oil and foliage permeated the air, thickets of smoke rising in plumes against the night sky behind them. “The mission—”

“—is not the priority right now,” Krolia interrupted.

“ _Not a priority_? Are you _kidding_ me?” Keith was sure if he weren’t already light-headed from losing copious amounts of blood, his head would be spinning. “Kolivan made it crystal clear that this mission is _pretty fucking crucial_!”

“There are other members of the Blade that can ensure the mission is seen through to its end.”

“And you should be up there with them! You— _augh_!”

Krolia silenced him with a sharp tug on the tourniquet, the elastic belt biting even tighter into the flesh of what remained of his thigh. He bit into his armplate to keep from screaming out any louder, though that wasn’t quite enough to stifle his cries of agony completely. Krolia never missed a stride all the while; if anything, she hastened her pace, every step putting more and more distance between them and the smouldering rubble that was once Keith’s ship. 

It took Keith a long moment to collect himself enough to speak again. “You should have left me back there,” he croaked. “You can’t even defend yourself.”

At this, Krolia did level him with a withering gaze. “I am honored you think so highly of me,” she said flatly. 

“You really expect to be able to fight like this?” He would have gestured at the two of them, if he had the arms free. Krolia didn’t deign that with a response. Keith wanted to tear his hair out. 

“Come _on_ , Krolia. Listen to reason! I’m missing a leg, for God’s sake!” 

“I am aware of that,” Krolia snapped, and it gave Keith a grim satisfaction that she was finally losing her cool. 

“Then you should be aware that between the two of us, I’m the more expendable one here, so would you just _put me down_ and—”

Krolia ground to a halt so quickly, so jarringly, that Keith groaned despite himself. When Krolia next spoke, her voice came out so quiet Keith almost wondered if he’d imagined it. 

“Are you truly so eager to die?” 

Something in Keith’s chest clenched. Even beneath the haze of pain, Keith could hear the hurt she tried to conceal in her words. The eerie, quiet sounds of the nocturnal jungle hung like lead between them. “…No,” he said at length. “I’m not. But you _know_ this mission is bigger than any one person. It’s bigger than me. I knew full well what I signed up for when I—”

“Did you?” Krolia held him steady, though Keith did not miss the waver in her voice. “Can you tell me truly that when you boarded the Blue Lion that day, you were fully prepared to give your life to a war you knew nothing of?” 

Keith said nothing; he _couldn’t_ tell her truly. And she knew it, too. 

After a heartbeat’s worth of silence, Krolia sighed and kneeled, gently setting Keith on the ground. For a moment, he thought she was giving in, but she only adjusted him so that she cradled him against her chest. One arm sturdy and warm around him was all she needed, and Keith found himself reaching his arms around her neck once more. 

“I meant it, what I said before,” she said as she stood, prying Keith’s fingers loose from around the hilt of his blade with her free hand. The blade she’d once called her own. Her eyes glinted in the moonlight as the blade extended to its full potential, the insignia casting a pale lavender glow against the darkened forest night as the sheath fell into the underbrush. 

“I left you once, kit. I’m never leaving you again.” 

And Keith, despite every instinct screaming against it, believed her.


End file.
